Posts Tagged ‘Russian Oligarchs’

I’ve posted many charts about the growing concentration of income and wealth in the United States in the hands of a tiny elite. Here is a chart illustrating inequality in Russia.

You should take note about what this chart shows and doesn’t show. The ruling elite in the old Soviet Union didn’t have large incomes, and they didn’t live like American millionaires and billionaires, but they did have special privileges, much like military officers compared to the rank and file or like American corporate executives with huge expense accounts. They had special stories, special medical care, special schools for their children, etc.

Also, the chart indicates that relative equality isn’t everything. I don’t think many Americans would have wanted to trade places with the average person in the old Soviet Union.

His connections with racketeers in the construction business in New York City and in casino gambling in Atlantic City, N.J., were well-known before the election, so it wouldn’t be surprising that he would have dealings with Russian racketeers and oligarchs as well.

I don’t claim—and none of the writers of the linked articles below claim—that there is proof that Donald Trump broke any specific law. The significance of his associations and business deals are as evidence by which the public can judge his character. Of course we voters had plenty of evidence about his character before the 2016 election.

I think it’s possible that Trump’s views about Russia prior to the election were influenced by his Russian cronies. I favor an impartial investigation into whether Trump had any improper ties with Russia.

But I also think this investigation would be pretty much a footnote to what is going on now. We don’t have to speculate about what Trump’s policy toward Russia will be. We see it in action. Trump caved into the anti-Russia war hawks. Regardless of what Trump’s motives may or may not be, this is a bad thing, not a good thing.

A new hereditary oligarchy of wealth is emerging in Russia. But it does not consist of the sons and daughters of millionaires and billionaires. Rather it consists of the sons and daughters of influential officials in the government security apparatus, starting with President Vladimir Putin’s daughter.

They are much like the so-called nomenklatura, the privileged sons and daughters of high-ranking Communist Party officials in the old Soviet Union.

Many of Russia’s millionaires and billionaires got rich by buying up government-owned factories and resources cheap right after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Reportedly when Putin took power, he called in Russia’s richest business people and told them he would not inquire into how they got their wealth—provided they did not oppose his policies.

He meant what he said. Those who did oppose him have been crushed. But even those who keep their heads down and their mouths shut do not feel secure. Many wealthy Russians are investing outside Russia because they don’t think their assets are safe at home.

This is what people in Third World dictatorships do. It doesn’t speak well for Russia’s future.